Save File Corrupted
by Riley Killer
Summary: Only so many resets can occur before eventually, something goes wrong. Frisk's last reset didn't work as planned, and now the kid is nowhere to be seen. But a coffin has appeared outside the Ruin's exit and a rather confused woman is about to wake up with a raging headache, brutal amnesia, and a knack for acquiring a taste in dealing with the impossible in order to stay alive.
1. Reset Start!

Well hello! Due to the purchase of Undertale, several reads, and much thought later, I've decided to start a little fic of my own as the good ol' fanfic gears began moving. Any suggestions or thoughts you guys have I am more than welcome.

I _do not own Undertale, for the game and its characters are under the copyright and ownership of Toby Fox, however I do own Elanor and all of her mistakes and actions._

Please keep in mind there may be spoilers, cussing, and likely some mature content throughout this fic.

But other than that, let's get to the main reason you're here, enjoy this first installment of Save File Corrupted!

* * *

 **Reset Start**

* * *

 _ **"Hey, wake up."**_

It was cold, the wind brushed lightly against their face. Pellets of freezing materials rested gently over their nose, to their cheeks, and down their form. Blue tinted their lips as they slumbered, the hardwood of their confinement tight around them.

 _ **"**_ _ **Hey, silly, you're supposed to save us. You can't do that from inside there… please…" Desperation began to cling to their voice.**_

They didn't know how to as a nightmare scored their dream hazed mind.

* * *

 _A child stared up into their face, red eyes wide at the knife that was embedded in their chest. The dreamer hunched over them. Their face felt warm as they watched tears come from the kid's face, disbelief in the depth of their gaze as they stumbled backwards once they let go of the blade, blood beginning to drip down from the handle onto the ground. The gold of the corridor causing the red sheen of the liquid on their hand to glisten as they stared in horror of what they'd done. A still quiet of disbelief hung in the air, and then the child fell to the ground, still with red eyes staring endlessly at them._

* * *

 _ **"**_ _ **I know it's scary, but please…" The voice became tearful, "Please… open your eyes…"**_

* * *

 _The gaze wouldn't stop. A grotesque smile curved on the child's face, someone shuffled towards her and she snapped her head up and she looked over her shoulder._

 _A mans sobs echoed in the distance as he hovered over a slain figure, "T-"_

* * *

 _ **"**_ _ **OPEN YOUR EYES. DAMMIT."**_

Green eyes opened to stare at the sky above tiredly, her body shook with the cold that clung to it. Brown eyebrows furrowed as she came to the sight not of the sky, or of dark clouds at night, but gray fluffy snow clouds and what looked like above them, a jagged rock ceiling.

A brisk breeze caused Elanor to hug herself, clad only in a black t-shirt and a pair of capris, as she shivered. A soft, "What the hell…?" Lingered in the air as her breath misted. She sat up and glanced down, a wave of terror flooding her as took in the wooden coffin she laid in, rectangular and smooth, sanded and polished. She gritted her teeth as heat flooded her eyes and tears began to roll down her cheeks. Confusion raced in her mind before she inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly and eyes shut.

The cold was bone deep, she felt woozy as she got to her feet and swayed. The coffin laid propped up with its' door open on a giant stone door, embedded in a stone wall that held dead vines that laid down it. A patch of green grass peeked out of the snow and she groaned as she took a step forward in knee high boots towards it. Another breeze drew an the chattering of her teeth accompanied the crunching of snow under her boots. Elenor swore she hallucinated however as a flower bloomed out of the patch. Its yellow petals stood out vividly against the bleak background. The wind shifted and blew against her back, her shirt ruffled in the breeze and her curly brown hair whipped in front of her.

The flower had a face on it, and it was smiling; it looked around their surroundings, woods lined both edges of the road she'd stumbled out onto, and then back, "…." It looked confused, and almost scared. Clearly this was supposed to all be a bad dream or she was being PUNK'ed. That couldn't be right though; so for the moment, she stared fascinated at the damn thing. What ever it was wrestling with, it soon cleared it's throat which puzzled her further, and it stated with a chipper voice, "H-Hi! I'm Flowey! Flowey the Flower!"

Snow was sticking to her hair now, she shuddered and hugged herself with a wincing glare, "That's nice Flowey, where the hell am I?"

Flowey's demeanor dropped, it bent it's flowery head back to look up at her, and then gave a scrutinizing glower itself, "Is there a kid with you?"

Elanor felt as her body rocked with tremors from the cold, "W-what?" The flower's face grew menacing.

"A kid, is there a little kid with you?"

"N-No. I'm alone." Elanor pointed towards the coffin. Flowey's menacing face bore a demented grin.

"You don't say! Well, it's not nice to lie! As you're new to the Underground." She blinked at the mention of the place, a tug at the back of her mind momentarily pulled her from him. She swore she heard a twig snap in the distance of the quite winter place and her head jerked in that direction. A light flash of light blue and white but then it was gone…

"… to welcome you." She looked back to Flowey, the yellow flower giving a low cackle. "As down here… it's Kill or Be Killed… and that white hag isn't here to save you…"

"The hell are you-" She felt a pulse go through her body, like something being shoved out of her chest. She jerked back and stilled as an grey heart hovered in front of her breast, "What the hell is that!?" She jumped back, and the heart followed her; lingering close to her. She ducked her head and winced against the cold. Flowey seemed unfazed by it.

"That is your soul, the very culmination of your being." He cackled, "Not that it'll matter! You'll be dead in a second, but first… Where is the child! They are supposed to be here!"

"There is no child! I'm A-Alone!" She felt scared, something was wrong and her instincts told her to run, she twisted to leave but met the coffin itself and the door.

"Don't Turn Your Back On Me!"

She shoved the coffin over and tried for the door, it didn't block. Something white sped into her purview and she threw herself to the ground, the heart floated up and in front of her. The white pellets made contact with the wall, and it shook, chunks of stone flying out.

Elenor covered her head and screamed, some of it fell down, slamming into her, while other chunks fell away or around her. She slowly got up to her feet shakily once it stilled.

"One last chance for before death." Flowey's voice murmured over the quiet and stillness of the wreckage. She looked at the back of her hands and part of her arms, scrapes and drops of blood beaded on red spots from the collisions. The cold felt more intense now and she swayed as she stared at him.

What did he hit the wall with? She gained her answer soon as white beads appeared above him in a circle. They disappeared, only to reappear around her soul. Her eyes widened.

"Normally…" The flower began, "This is where that old hag would save you…" the vile grin from before returned to it's petalled face, "However, she's locked away behind you, in the Ruins. Everything is Different this Time! It's been made so Easy!"

"Y-you're not making any sense… None of this makes sense…" Elanor took a step back, her back met the jagged wall and the bullets moving around her heart stilled. Flowey grinned.

"You're not important. So it wouldn't and shouldn't." It surmised, "But I'm not going to complain over an opportunity like this… it'll correct itself in the next reset anyways."

"Reset? W-what?"

The bullets moved in and she shut her eyes. Her body went numb and she stopped feeling all together. There was no cold, no pain, nothing…

 _ **"**_ _ **I know it's scary, but please…" The voice was less desperate. It was calm, firm, and it grasped at her soul, "Please… open your eyes Elanor."**_

Snow came down on her face, and her green eyes opened to stare at the sky above tiredly. Confusion washed over her as she came face to face with a jagged rock ceiling and dark clouds, before she looked out of the casing around her. Quickly Elanor leaned up, putting weight on her heels and took in that she laid in a wooden coffin. The Underground provided a brisk breeze that rocked her with tremors, but her mind attempted to play catch up. She stepped out of the coffin, and the snow crunched under her boots.

She looked behind her immediately, the coffin was propped against a large stone door, and a wall…

There was nothing wrong with the wall. In her gut, she knew there was something that was suppose to be wrong with it though... Vines draped down around it that were dead, long since frost bitten and starved, but there were no signs of blast damage… nothing.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she fell against the side of her coffin and then looked at it. Why was she in a coffin to begin with? Her groggy mind couldn't bring up any details as she braced herself on the heavy wood container and looked inside as it sat vertical. As she looked inside, she found a green sweat jacket. Frantically she swooped low and grasped it. She shoved it on and found the pockets heavy with gloves which she put on immediately. A wave of wooziness hit her again and she groaned as her head pounded.

It felt like a memory that had been buried way, but there had been a flower… there had been a little flower… it had been a rude little thing too… and scary. She shivered as she recalled its chilling voice. There was no way a flower could do that though, flowers didn't talk…

She clung to the side of the coffin and looked around. A small grass patch sat conveniently with nothing inside it; untouched by snow. Why was that? She moved towards it to examine it before her heart jumped to her throat as she saw the beginning of yellow in the center of it blossom up. Soon it raised up to it's full height, and it's body turned towards her. Sure enough, there was a face on it. Flowey opened its eyes, and then paused, eyes narrowed as it landed on her.

Eleanor's hands dipped into her pockets; her hood up around her face and soft pants exited her in foggy breaths. She licked her lips.

 _Flowey…_

"Hi! I'm Flowey! Flowey the Flower!" Flowey looked around, and then back at her and smiled, "Golly, I haven't seen you before! You must be new to the Underground!"

She remembered that, this place was called the Underground, and if she remembered right, Flowey was going to pull her soul from her body…

That prospect was terrifying, if not impossible right? That shouldn't happen… But the flower kept going. The flower shouldn't be talking at all, yet here it was… doing the impossible.

"I guess I'll have to teach ya, and anyone else with you how it works!"

Thus the impossible was now completely possible.

"There's no one with me."

"Are you sure? Could have sworn I saw _someone_." A patient smile appeared on its face. Elanor's heart felt like it was going to burst. She turned and crouched down, "Oh! Are you going to call them over? That'd sure be swell!" She quickly used the snow on the ground, made a snow ball, and chucked it at the damn thing, "H-Hey!" It gave a small laugh as she missed. Her breathing heightened, "That's not how things work down here!" It snickered, "And I don't have any hands! I can't have a snow ball fight with-"

She embedded a rock in the center of the next ball, and nailed it in the face, eyes narrowed. The plant stilled as snow fell onto its green patch in front of it. The rock left a dent in the right side of its head; Flowey's face turned to a grotesque snarl of rage.

"…You know what's going on here, don't you?" It's voice began to raise, "You didn't come back here with the kid at all… Did You!?" It was accusing her at this point. "Why you? That doesn't make any sense!" It yelled, "You're not supposed to be here! You're not supposed to be you!"

Despite the familiarity of the situation, she didn't feel anymore comforted as she took a step back. How the hell did a flower have fangs? Why did it have-

The pulse from before yanked her focus and she grunted as her soul as it hovered in front of her. The grey heart hovered there.

She heard a twig snap, her eyes darted towards the woods again, Flowey's voice cut her focus just as she spotted the blue and white from before again.

"Die."

It was happening again. Flowey would fire, she would try to dodge, the wall would take damage, and come down on her. It hadn't played out the same as the first time but it was the same part now. Flowey's attack. Maybe if she could attack… maybe if she could fight back…

She twisted to see the bullets coming, thus she ripped her gaze from the creature that stared back, and dove to the side, this time under the coffin. It exploded upon contact, the walls of it giving way and the back of it shards. But it wasn't like the rocks… okay. Splinters peppered her side in the fabric and some large shards laid skewed. In her frantic movement, she noted dimly that things could change… Things had changed. If she died again, would she wake up right like before in the coffin all together?

She noted a particularly large shard and scrambled for it; pain jerked through her side and she hissed, eyes narrowed as she spotted a smaller shard a wood sticking out of her side. Blood stained her coat around it,.

Flowey's cackle echoed through her ears as she grasped around it when a high pitched whirling sound graced the air. A pair of pink slippered feet appeared in front of her lain form. Elanor stilled, eyes turned up towards the figure to find their back to her. What she could see was their arms down and hands in the pockets of a rather large blue jacket, and the back of a pair of what looked like gym shorts or pants… she couldn't see past the hood though.

A large monstrous skull hovered in the air beside them, the blue laser died and blue lightning from the look of it arched and crackled around its mouth. The nightmarish thing bobbed up and down as though buoyant in a tub… She looked past the figure's in front of her as her vision blurred and took note that Flowey was still there. A glower laid on its face before it growled, goosebumps pebbled her skin underneath the jacket, "You…" It grinned, "It's not like you to interfere this early…" A soft chuckle exited the demonic thing, "However I suppose, we'll all be dealing with some new changes now…"

Flowey tucked back in on itself, and then the golden flower dipped down into the earth; gone from sight. The figure turned but she couldn't pry her eyes away from the green patch that slowly began to take on snow around it. White soon engulfed it. The skull beside the figure disappeared in a flash and they pulled their hood up.

She felt funny, not like before when she didn't feel anything, but her body felt heavy; like she'd ran four miles and was exhausted now. She spotted no sign of her soul; but her eyes now fought to stay open as she looked weakly at the figure that turned towards her. Their foot came up and nudged the stake out of her hand and away from her. She reached for it almost immediately, pain stilled her hand as she clawed the ground underneath the snow.

"If he comes back.." She pleaded to the stranger, panic in her voice, "How will I- if he comes back…"

A deep voice gave a hum of thought, but she didn't have much time to concentrate on it or the reply they could provide as her vision faded out and finally, she slept.

* * *

 **Hope you enjoyed it. We're skipping Toriel not because I do not like Toriel, but due to the story itself. More will be revealed as time goes on, buuut... who knows what the next chapter will hold... :)**


	2. Opening Credits

_Oh wow, thank you so much for the support guys! I was genuinely surprised to have as quick response to this as I did. I'm glad you all are interested and eager to see more! As you know from his appearance last chapter, Sans will be starring in the second installment of Save File Corrupted._

I _do not own Undertale, for the game and its characters are under the copyright and ownership of Toby Fox, however I do own Elanor and all of her mistakes and actions._

* * *

 **Opening Credits**

* * *

 ** _"_** ** _Hey sleepy head, it's time to wake up." A calm, affectionate, and motherly voice prodded at her, a chest deep chuckle reverberated around her, "You can't sleep the day away, now can you?"_**

 _I don't want to wake up though..._ She became aware of the pain at her side and the cold as the wind brushed over her. Her head pounded as her body swayed unnaturally, bobbing up and down as warm supports rested under her back and knees. Weakly she attempted to open her eyes, the lip of her hood just obscuring her vision. Someone was carrying her; hunched over her form as they lumbered down a path; something sharp and heavy was pressed to her side. She tried to crane her neck to look down. A cloth stained with blood kept pressure on it and the the smaller stake wedged inside was wrapped in bandages; at least it looked like bandages as it was unmoving.

Elanor groaned softly and reached for it. The hand pressed to her side grabbed it. Apprehension struck her as she took in bones, phalanges that were red and wet. Snowflakes landed on it as the figure stilled and soon absorbed the crimson color that dripped down onto the ground. Her mind caught up and she tried to arch away with a stifled yell, the arms around her tightened around her.

"Don't move." Growled the creature, her heart began to pick up as panic welled up in her mind with fear. She whimpered, hands clenched into the cloth around her and ragged pants followed as she struggled and its grip became more constricted, "You don't want to get another _stitch_ in your side."

She gaped at the creature, and then looked down as that wasn't a stitch, that was a sti-

It's tone registered to her, she felt it shake beneath and around her. Then it clicked, the monster was sniggering. She put two and two together and her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water for a moment. Did this thing just make a goddamned bad pun at her expense? _That morbid bastard!_ Fear was replaced with confusion and she felt as the bone creature righted itself after it stopped shaking, and then continued on. She attempted to stay away from leaning against it, only for the effort to become too much and her head fell heavily against its shoulder. Another chuckle, a deep baritone. It was male, and the cadence of his words was almost soothing.

"Don't fall asleep." It chided lowly, "Would hate for you to catch your death. _"_ It didn't sound like it would hate it at all...

Well… there went that soothing, lulling feeling she'd been having. The pain in her side became more apparent and she wanted to curl more in on herself, but the shift just caused another wave of agony. The fear from earlier bubbled and she grimaced, her hands moved up to clutch at the arms wrapped in jacket sleeves that carried her. They felt weird though to the touch. A hiss exited him before he shook a little more.

"We're almost there… stop moving lady." The hushed tone made her grimace, "In fact, lay as _still as a corpse,_ and hold tight."

"Wha-"

She felt jerked, the world around her blurred past and caused her head to swim. She gasped as they stilled and she shook, head wobbling in the process. She clung to the monster who stood beside a table, at least she assumed it table, as the surroundings began to come into focus as she panted for breath. Oxygen felt further and further to gain. Her chest felt too tight and she felt like she couldn't get air; her mouth opened wide as she silently gasped but nothing came in or out. Her vision began to fade, yet she could still hear, still feel.

She was set quickly down on something hard, the bone hands moved to keep her from curling into a ball as she tried to almost immediately. Something warm covered her body, and she registered light behind her eyelids as she gritted her teeth. A jerking pain raced through her, originating from her side, a low grunt pricked her senses from the monster. A few moments passed before she tried to move and found her body immobile however as the panic of being unable to breathe pressed in from all sides.

A new jarring pain entered her side, followed by something being shoved inside her. She felt the pressure in her chest lessen after a few moments, enough for her to scream. It broke and died down into a sob that wracked her body as something clothe was placed around her eyes. A hand rested on her head, pressing it firmly down onto the hard surface as she gasped in gulps of air.

"Your lung began to collapse." He, whoever he was, informed her lowly. She laid panting as he began to press onto her wound with another clothe, "I had to alleviate the pressure, otherwise..." How was he so calm? Elanor whimpered as the warmth around her lessened ever so slightly, and then disappeared all together. "You'd be in for a bad time."

A groan fell from her as she felt tears wet whatever was around her head. "C-cause the demonic flower trying to off me t-twice didn't do that a-already?" A semi-hysterical giggle exited her tired form, her side felt on fire almost immediately, "O-oh god…" She touched it and rested her hand over the cloth pressed to it. Her fingers brushed the phalanges which recoiled immediately, "…that was a p-poor choice.."

"The flower?" He questioned, she felt the surface she was on tilt slightly and creak from his weight.

"L-Laugh- nnuugh…" She fell silents as she focused on breathing. It hurt; but not as much as laughing or moving. Her eyes fluttered and she grimaced as the hand remained in her hair and on her head, a faint whisper slipped from her "..Am I going to die again?"

"Maybe." He drawled. "That's up to you, isn't it?" She failed to see how as her breathing became softer and her other hand clawed into the wood below it as pain continued from her wound. She needed to not focus on this. She needed something else...

"What's your name?" Elanor mumbled, the adrenaline from her fear before coming down and crashing. She felt like she weight a ton more than she did, unable to move from her spot. Her eyes felt tired, swollen and puffy. The figure adjusted from his former position. She shook her head a little bit to get the cloth off her face, and it slipped away just enough for her left eye to see over it. She opened it and stared blearily at them. They stood over her and what she could only assume was the table from earlier, taller than she expected. She peeked away from them and down at herself, her jacket was cut up the side and her skin exposed. A long tube stuck out of her, just between the ribs, held up between the fingers of the skeleton that observed her. One blue eye glowed in its right eye socket, while the left remained void of anything inside it.

The offending shard of wood dripped blood onto the floor, but rested in his free hand.

"Sans, Sans the Skeleton." The male voice though aloof, was coming from the skeleton, donning the same blue jacket she'd seen before. She noted the white fur was at the tip of its hood and a white turtle neck underneath. Both were stained with blood now though. The blue eye remained shrunk, and pinned her with its gaze. She almost wished the clothe was back over her face as a chill moved up her spine; his mouth unmoving as his teeth were bore in what felt like a permanent grin.

She blanched at the sight and shrunk back into her clothes herself, he looked her up and down, then narrowed in on her face. She ducked lower behind the cloth, eye just peeking out from between her hair. Her hand shook as she white knuckled it into the clothe and blood continued to stain it. The skeleton- she was confused on how it was even possible, gave her a withering, if not puzzling glower.

She couldn't prevent the stutter from her voice, "… N-nice to m-meet y-you, Sans…"

"You and I have two different definitions of nice." He grunted simply, he gave a tired sigh and reached over past her line of sight. She was surprised to find a rolling chair come into her purview as his other hand grabbed it. How did his bones stay together long enough to function without the proper tissue or ligaments? He pulled it to him and sat heavily on it; rounded stomach level with the table before he rested an elbow on it and propped his skull on his hand, looking down at her as his elbow rested beside of her head. It didn't take San's long however to notice the human's tired gaze pinned to his hand. Confusion practically danced across her face as she tried to put two and two together.

One quick blast from a gasterblaster, and she'd be gone; that was all it would take. But would she just be back at the locked entrance to the Ruins; waking up in a coffin again? As he contemplated it though, her strained voice muttered something; he blinked and focused in on her, "What?"

But as he found out after he looked back down at her, she'd shut her eyes and drifted off. He waited and held his breath. Any moment, her chest would stop moving and the world around them would change, it would go back, or he would be ushered to the woods outside of his hometown and wait for the kid to show… but it didn't happen. She kept breathing and a wave of relief washed over him that she was merely sleeping now. The tension in the skeleton's shoulders relaxed as he soon stood up with a groan and began to prep to tend the wounds further.

He paused as grief and rage bubbled inside him once he turned his back to her. Some of the medical supplies he stored in his storage cabinet that hung in the wall of his workshop fell to the ground with a clatter after he'd gathered them. A hiss ushered from between slightly fanged teeth that had parted, in an attempt to calm him as he clenched his phalanges into boney fists.

Did she need to live?

Something had gone wrong, and stayed wrong. The limp figure on his work table was proof enough of that. What if she was like a virus of sorts, created over time by Chara to eradicate them all for nothing more than their amusement. Humans were capable of it, he'd seen it again and again. If he killed her right here, right now would it make a difference? He felt unnerved by the presence of this human, and unlike like all humans before, she hadn't come out of the ruins. She didn't belong in any of the timelines he'd experienced. He wouldn't have to do as Toriel pleaded for him to promise, and that was to keep from killing the humans that came out.

But Sans had already seen her die once, and that was when Flowey had dispatched the her the first time, only for the world to reset and for her to wake up right back in that coffin, and stumble out. As sure enough as the human he was accustomed to, Frisk, coming out of the Ruins either with dust on their hands, or without it. Both times, this human had looked to the forest when he stepped on a branch and it snapped. The first time on accident, the second time to test his theory. She'd been faster the second time, and a lot more sure of it too when she'd taken longer to look at the woods this time, directly at him as he observed the event happening not once, but twice.

At least he assumed it was at him. She had been so quick to attack Flowey; even when that damned monster changed his speaking to her. He reasoned with the scientific portion of his mind, that it had to be the maturity of the species that had caused her to act so fast. A kid might be alright with a talking flower, and then even scared by it, but an adult who'd been killed by it once with the potential of remembering it? Probably not. He'd been mildly impressed when she'd used the rock to try and take the monster out; but he knew it wouldn't kill Flowey. It took so much more to do that. He crouched down with a low breath. He couldn't remember the last reset all the way through with the kid; with Frisk though… Had Chara, the first child to fall down the mountain and to come into their midsts, taken over? Would Chara be back if Frisk wasn't?

There were too many questions he couldn't answer; and it scared him. He shivered as he began to slowly pick up the medical supplies.

This new human though, what would they provide? Would they be able to get them all out onto the surface, and would she let them stay there with no resets, no twisted thoughts on what would happen if she destroyed everyone upon realizing it? Childish curiosity had proven to be a double edged blade after all… could she get through the same line of events as Frisk? Or would there be new ones he hadn't even imagined yet? The coffin was already a variable he couldn't understand, just as her appearance. Nothing was known to him now. He despised it, and felt uncomfortable as this creature could be far worse than Chara, she could be the end of them all, and more.

Her appearance was flawed, not physically, but in its existence. It was wrong… What had happened with the last reset for all of this to have occurred?

He grunted as he stood up and turned towards the unconscious form; he set the supplies down next to her head and leaned forward on his elbows as he stared down into her face more critically.

She'd been scared by Flowey, and attempted to attack him; common sense was there at least. He sighed and looked up at the ceiling contemplatively, then glowered down towards the unconscious woman, "You steer me wrong, lady." He promised her, "And me being a bonehead-" He chuckled softly at his own pathetic excuse for a pun, "Will be the least of your problems." He reached over to his supplies as he stood up straight, "That's a promise I can keep."

* * *

 **Okay, this is my first time taking a shot at writing Sans and I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Comments? Critiques? Lemme have it, and see you next installment!**


	3. Tutorial

_Hey all! Thank you so much for the support on this story so far. I originally was going to end this before the final scene, but I decided to extend it so you got to see a bit more of Elanor and Sans interacting without the... well... I won't spoil it BUT! Expect some emotional tag backs on the protagonist's part in this chapter, as well as cussing of all arrays; and hopefully some development along the way. I am enjoying this story thoroughly, and Undertale, so expect to see the new chapter soon!_

 _*Also, I went through and edited this chapter. More detail and the like inside!_

 _I do not own Undertale, for the game and its characters are under the copyright and ownership of Toby Fox, however I do own Elanor and all of her mistakes and actions._

* * *

 **Tutorial**

* * *

 _Hands rested on her shoulders as she stared at the giant palace in the distance. Crystals on both sides of her illuminated a tall figure that supported her as she leaned back. The hooded figure donned a red and black cloak as they hunched over her and whispered frantically as they sat on the ground together._

 _She spoke, she felt angry, but she didn't know what she actually said. The figure stilled and stiffened with shock, then the arms moved around her from behind. She grunted as they embraced her tightly._

 _She looked to her right quietly at the knife that laid beside the crystals, blood staining it; then sighed. Her arms came back and she locked them once she reached behind the beings back, head turning and resting against their shoulder. She looked up and kissed the underside of their jaw, hidden by shadow and the underside of the hood. They flinched, and looked down._

 _This time she spoke, and her words echoed softly into the night, "We'll figure it out." She reached up and her hand pressed to the hood and the side of their face. A glowing blue flower fluttered lightly as though it heard her. She snapped her gaze to it with a frown; her right hand lashing out as she grabbed the knife; eyes searching the area._

 _"_ _We'll figure it out." Her voice echoed back to her softly from the flower. The figure behind her shuddered and she looked to see them silently laughing. She slowly relaxed; released the knife, and leaned back again. Their embrace renewed with a tighter grip; she felt all the more safer as she dropped her hand to rest it on their arm, a hand print of fine white powder left behind on the fabric. They leaned their head down and bunched their cheek into hers, she smiled gently and gripped their arm tighter, hand coming up to interlace with their own-_

* * *

 ** _"_** ** _WAKE UP, HUMAN. THERE IS WORK TO BE DONE." A voice of disgust and rage jolted her._**

Elanor sat up and instantly regretted it as fresh pain blossomed up her side. She fell back into the bed and pillows that surrounded her. They smelled fresh, clean, and the room around her was tidy… A treadmill sat in the center of it with a desk in the corner. A chair beside it; and a garbage can in a different corner of the room. The chair was currently occupied by a sleeping skeleton, his form turned in her direction. For some reason, she felt he should be much shorter than he was, but shrugged it off as she looked ahead. Envelopes laid on the floor by the door, opened and wrinkled; and a bookcase with what looked to be text books, laid against the wall. There was only one window; and another door which she assumed was a closet.

She looked down and grunted in surprise. She wore a shirt that was plainly too large for her, the neck draped off her right shoulder. Sweatpants were pulled tight by the drawstrings, but were clearly baggy around her hips. She supposed they didn't need to fit, she just needed them to stay on as she lifted the covers to see them going over her feet. She blinked and lifted up the shirt, her curly hair bouncing as it fell off her shoulders in front of her face. She didn't notice the light snoring from Sans had ceased as she looked at the wound on her side, wrapped in bandages. She dug her fingers over it and blinked, feeling the familiar bumps of stitches.

"You're lucky, lady." She inhaled sharply and looked up at Sans. He was fully awake, and she could see him better now that his form wasn't fully covered in his jacket; it hung on the back of his chair, clean as could be. He wore a white tank top and she noted that he was indeed a full skeleton. She felt cold at the sight. Big-boned, and probably no guts. The hair on the back of her neck rose and she gulped quietly, letting go of the shirt collar so it fell back over her shoulder. He didn't take much notice of it, white light lingered in the pits of his eye sockets- they weren't blue now, he could change colors maybe? The points seemed duller and his posture made him come off as more at ease…

She tried to figure out how a skeleton, a straight up skeleton could give her a lidded gaze, and a wide grin that could seem almost laid back and neutral. "I don't clean up my _mausoleum_ for just anybody."

"Your what?!" Elanor's eyes traced the walls wide and frantically, Sans gave a chortle as she had even clutched the blankets tighter to herself. He had to clean. An unsterile environment would only guarantee a slower recovery. She looked at him, scrunched her nose, and gave him a wincing glare, the bedsheets clutched to her chest.

She almost looked cute, but he threw such thoughts aside as he sat back and crossed his arms, "So, what's your name?" How on earth did Toriel do this with the kid? He could never figure it out; it had to be easier with kids. He was hoping the dirty look she had wasn't a permanent fixture on her face.

"Elanor." Oh, well at least he got that. Wait, didn't humans have last names? He muttered that before she shrugged, "I um… I don't know my last name."

"…Well Ela, I think-"

"Ela _nor."_

He was going to have fun with this one. He fought back the grin, "You didn't come through the usual way humans usually do, you know, so why don't you tell me _El-a-bout it_?" She shifted lightly, and one hand moved to cover her shoulder with the shirt, this only dropped the shirt collar lower towards her breasts, she then moved to adjust that. He tilted his head slightly and rested his elbow on his desk as he propped his head on his hand; his grin widening as she fussed with it.

If she wasn't going to laugh at his jokes, he was going to become bored quick and this would stop being pleasant. He didn't necessarily care about giving a human a bad time… but the time would reset. He waited for her to respond as she stopped finally, looked at the blankets, then back up at him.

"I don't know anything about that." Elanor eyed him now. He seemed less amused, but if the shit pun game was going to be here, she might as well give back as well as she got. "You could say when it comes to knowing what was going on, that stream of thought is _bone dry_."

Sans blinked, and Elanor sat in fascination on how the skeleton could do that, blink. He sat back, "You don't say," and then chuckled, his hands up, "That was terrible."

"So is tell me 'el-about' it." Was the soft, nervous whisper as she watched him. He sniggered, it didn't comfort her.

"Calm down, I'm not going to eat you." He gave a small 'hmph', "I don't have the _stomach_ for it." She was giving him that look again, like she couldn't believe what he said. His skull managed to express his own puzzlement, but he changed the subject all together as he rolled slightly forward in his chair, closing the distance a little bit. She recoiled away immediately. He couldn't blame her, but… "Do you not remember the entire walk here?"

Elanor's heart beat uncomfortably in her chest and she nodded but pulled the blanket tighter. Everything around her was new and honestly terrifying. Skeletons didn't talk. She knew that much, yet here one was. She looked up and around, then back to him, wincing. "I- parts of it…" She wrung the sheet in her hands and licked her lips, looking away, "…But I also remember that flower trying to kill me again."

"Yeah… Calls himself Flowey if you don't remember... You should probably keep that to yourself though." She flinched and looked at him, "The again part, I mean, even here, coming back from the dead isn't something a lot of folks can handle, buddy. I'll probably be the only one who honestly understands what you're talking about anyways. when it comes down to it."

Why was that? It was a confusing matter all together. Elanor tried to grip a portion of her memory and squeeze it dry for some detail, but she didn't actually know anything going on. Her hands white knuckled the sheet as she traced what she did know… This skeleton in front of her, Sans, he called himself. He made awful puns. He carried her back here, and he had intervened with the Flower. The flower's name was Flowey. Flowey was a dick. That much she could surmise, however, everything else. She eyeballed Sans who watched her go through the a variety of different expressions, that honestly entertained the bone based monster quite a bit. Flowey tried to kill her, pissed off because she didn't have some kid with her.

Who was the kid? Did she have kids? Oh god no...

"Where is here?" She changed the subject as she tried to recall the last dream she had, only for the details to slip away. Somewhere in there, she thought she had one about a kid, but a nervous fluttering in her stomach made her feel anxiety over something she couldn't recall… they were dreams. They didn't matter or anything. There was no point in focusing on them. She took in the room, and then looked back to the skeleton. Sans held a rather puzzled look himself, before she continued "No really, where is here?" She winced, "I don't remember anything before waking up."

"So you don't remember the surface or anything?" Sans watched as she grimace. She reached up and began to slowly massage her temples, her eyes shut and then shook her head. When she stopped, her brows were furrowed, her forehead was creased, and her lips had pulled down into a frown.

"…A warm feeling." Elanor finally muttered, "That's all. Kind of like when someone cares about you." Sans frowned, that wasn't very much to go on. He came across another question for her to contemplate though.

"Then how do you know your name?"

That was a puzzle in itself, how _did_ she know her name? Elanor looked at her fingers, and touched her thumb to the tip of each one in thought, then shrugged after she did this a few times on one hand, rubbing her fingers together like she was feeling the texture of them. A nervous twitch, maybe? Her lips in a pout, she felt cold and clammy… "Just lucky I guess. I remember…some things about me but…" She shook her head, "Not a lot more outside of that. I remember how to do things but I guess just… nothing…. about my life." It even made her feel uncomfortable to say it. She squirmed lightly, then realized something. She puffed her cheeks, and gave him a glower, "You didn't say where here was."

Well, at least she wasn't easily distracted. He gestured in the air with his hand, then gave a cheeky grin, "My house."

"I got that…" Irritation edged her voice, "I mean… what country, stuff like that…" He gave her a very neutral look and stared. She squirmed after a moment of staring back and then looked down and shifted, pulling the blanket higher, unconsciously hiding herself more.

"You're Underground, in the town Snowdin. You likely fell down Mount Ebott at some point, even if you don't remember. That could even by _why_ you don't remember." Elanor felt something pull at the back of her mind, but gave him a small nod anyways to continue, her throat was beginning to feel tight "Never met a human with partial memory loss like this before."

"…And… why are you…" She then winced, looked down, then around. Her chest felt tight, she could barely breathe. He was noting this was a habit, her eyebrows furrowed and she leveled her gaze on him, "Okay- how the fuck are you a skeleton that's walking, talking, and what the hell did you hit the flower with and how was he- Actually, you know what, I'll sum it up, what the hell are you and what the hell was that?" Her voice had risen with stress to a frightened squeal, she had curled into a ball and was shaking now. This was not how he hoped this would pan out.

Elanor didn't notice it honestly, but she felt tense, and her face felt hot. The past 24 hours- had it been 24 hours? Had been down right terrifying. This right now, was terrifying. Everything was scary and she didn't even know what to compare it too. Something about this skeleton, this situation, it put her on edge. She didn't even have a reference for why it was so horrifying other than what she experienced, and she couldn't remember why she was here to begin with but when she tried, it only added to the stress; her mind was going a mile a minute and she could barely keep up.

Sans didn't move for a moment as he took in the human in front of him who by all means was physically screaming in her body language she wanted to run and hide. Her eyes were glazed slightly, so she wasn't right here and now with him, or if she was, she was focused on something else as she stared at the sheets and seemed to have a tremor go through her every few seconds. He refrained from getting angry and impatient though, as would be needed usually with an outburst like this. She wasn't angry or even a threat right now to him, or his kind. Not while she was contained. Hell; he was pretty sure he could say 'boo' right now, and she'd faint.

He sighed and rubbed the back of his skull, tapping a finger against it for a moment and then got to his feet. He looked at her as she looked very close to crying. He was so used to dealing with a kid who was rather curious to begin with, but unlike so many times before, Elanor's first memory of being underground wasn't of a kind goat monster woman rescuing her, and assisting her while teaching her what she needed to do to get out of here. At least, that's what he wrote down was the kid's first memory, after Toriel had revealed to him in his many notes to go along with his memories of the resets… this time, it was of a twisted demented flower trying and successfully killing her, only for her to wake right back up moments before Flowey did the deed, and for him to intervene the second time; almost a second too late.

He would need a different approach; just as many puns, less expectations for her to be able to handle this from the get go. The amnesia was a new obstacle on its own, and he hadn't even touched on the obstacles she would face in the underground once she was cut loose.

"Stay here." As she looked up with a sniffle, he held a hand up, "I'm going to be right back. Just a warning for you as well though, Snowdin lives up to its name. With those stitches in your side and frankly, my clothes." He then muttered lowly, "Which I will want back at some point," before he picked up to his normal volume, "you aren't going to get far before you're too cold and need to come back here anyways… I'm not going to be far; so just.. stay here and trust me." Trust him, yeah. That didn't seem like it would happen any time soon. Hell, thinking about it, he probably wouldn't trust him right now in her situation either. He wasn't even sure he could let her leave the room though with this kind of reaction.

If she learned how to fight- she would be dangerous on fear alone.

He gave her a stern frown, "Promise me, you'll stay in the room."

Elanor gave in and nodded, she watched as the skeleton left before she slowly fell back with a sniffle. The door shut with a soft click, and the louder sound of a lock before she felt her eyes get hot and itchy before she fell back, reached up and grabbed the pillow. It smelled faintly of sweat and musk as she buried her face into it and muffled the few sobs that racked her body. Her head pounded, her side ached, everything just- sucked. This monster had saved her for who knew what purpose, and she felt like crap for freaking out as he'd been nothing but calm to her so far. Her throat felt tight and she tried to pull it in, gulping down air and forcing slow breaths from her. She managed a few times, before the breathing cracked apart and another sobbing episode took her.

She didn't even understand why she was sad, then again though, she didn't get anything going on either. She shut her eyes and tried to concentrate on breathing again, though as it felt all the harder to do so. Soon, she managed to breathe out without the shaking in each of her breaths for gasps for air. Her eyes remained clamped shut, and her hands clenched tightly into the pillow, trying to force all that was going on that she couldn't keep track on into the tension caused by her fists. As her hands ached, her focus improved on it and she slowly managed to block out everything else.

The ending result was a raging headache; but in the time it took for her to calm down, Sans had already returned.

The smell of food made her open her eyes, and she hissed, as the light from his window caused her headache to heighten. She touching her forehead, massaging it with her thumbs. Sans didn't shy away from the bed as he walked up to her. Once she noticed, she jolted; only for his hand to stop her before she could fully sit up. She shook on touch, eyes wide and arms locked in her half sat-up state, trying to decide if she wanted to disappear back down into the mattress and sheets or not.

"Don't move too fast." He warned her, "You'll rip the stitches. You humans are pretty fragile when it comes to that kind of thing." He shook the paperboy in emphasis before he handed it to her, "Thought something to eat would make you feel better, that way you're not all skin and _bones_." He watched her eyes widen in surprise. "You eat, and I'll try and clear up some of the _contusion."_

She rewarded him with a soft, quite chuckle as she murmured, "…Your puns are terrible." He smirked. It was a start. She checked inside the bag and then pulled out the burger and fries while he grabbed his chair, rolled it over, and sat down. This time he was closer to the bed, but the distraction of food did well to prevent her from freaking out on him. Once she took a bite of the burger, he reached into his jacket pocket, pulled out a bottle of ketchup, opened it, and took a swig of it.

She stopped to watch the whole thing, brows furrowed before he grinned at her. She went back to eating, but not without taking her eyes off him the entire time. Coordination was a wonderful thing, but perhaps due to fatigue, she did not have it at all, at the moment. He learned this as he got to chortle from her missing her mouth while trying to eat fries a few times before she had to look away from him to manage. Once she seemed to relax a little bit, and he handed her a bottle of water he'd stored in his other pocket, and with a patient breath, he began to tell her what he could of the world below Mount Ebott, how it came to be, its monarchy, and its inhabitants.

Once she'd finished eating, she shoved everything neatly back into the paper bag he'd handed her, and nursed the bottle of water as he explained magic and monsters further so she had a better understanding of what she was dealing with currently.

She finished taking a swig before she pointed at him with her hand still gripping the bottle, muttering, "So, if I killed you. You would turn into dust, and I would some how grow strong…"

"Yes. You got a few bones to pick with me that you wanna tell me El-about?" He was going to make this a thing, she could tell. But she shook her head, he leaned back in his chair, his bottle of ketchup empty and at his feet now, as he gestured, "Your Level of Violence points and Execution Points would increase." He rested his hands on his stomach and watched as she tiredly blinked, he tried to decide how much he should tell her, but figured, the more education might be the better in this case. "A lot of monsters generally don't want to fight, so you could potentially kill everyone."

"Because you all are magic?"

"Far more than you humans." He wiggled his fingers in emphasis, "We're special skeleton boys and girls…" He joked. Ahh ha! He got another small smile from her. There was hope!

"And the monsters were banished by humans down here… because if a monster kills a human, the same thing happens."

"Your kind felt threatened a ton, a _skele-_ ton, because your souls last longer than ours do outside your body." Her lips twitched up, but then went back to a neutral line, "Humans felt threatened because a monster becomes rather powerful if they absorb a human soul." He leaned forward and whispered, "I think personally though it's because we monsters are much cooler, however." He chuckled, "and you humans are kind of hysterical."

She gave another small, breathy chuckle, and relaxed. There, things weren't going to be so scary, he gave himself a little pat on the back. She seemed at least disarmed for the moment.

And she was. Elanor continued to drink her water and let her brain process what he was telling her. As she was getting near the point she was almost out, and actually very sad to see so as she pulled back the bottle to look, she licked her lips and leaned back a little more from her sitting up position. Resting on her elbows, she murmured softly, "So I take it, Flowey was one of few that will come at me when I leave here? Even if monsters don't want to fight... with a human soul-"

Not if, when... he put the comment aside to focus on later. Sans gave a bob of his head in agreement, "Flowey isn't a monster, but something else entirely…If you do run into another monster, you should try talking it down. Make it laugh, or talk to it. Sometimes you can run away, other times you can grant mercy and spare it." He gave her a cheeky grin, "Who knows, you might meet a nice monster and even want to flirt with them a little."

Her eyes widened, she choked on her water and began to cough after it went down the wrong pipe; half-sprayed out, the other half down her throat. Sans hesitantly leaned over and began to pat her on the back. Once she settled, she dropped her hand from where it had rested around her throat and looked at him in disbelief. He grinned as he chuckled, "You would be surprised how well it works."

"…Sans, how the hell am I supposed to convince a monster trying to kill me into not killing me through flirting when I don't even remember where the hell I come from?"

"Compliment their beautiful white bones? Ask a happy Froggit out to share a plate of flies?"

"I don't know what that is- and are you brain dead? Cause you're being a complete _numb skull_."

He gave a loud 'ha'! which turned into a fit of laughter that made him hunch over. Elanor felt no more confident in the matter. He grinned at her fiercely though which made her a little apprehensive as he snickered. "Who knows, Elanor." He reached over and with a boney finger, prodded her arm gently, "Maybe you'll charm them as the underground's newest comedian." He gave her a wink and then challenged lowly, "But you'll have to take me out of the running first."

She didn't feel comfortable with him fully yet, nor did she necessarily feel safe, but Elanor couldn't place the feeling going through her as gave him another small smile. Something in the back of her head was whispering run away, but right now, she felt okay enough that if he wasn't going to harm her, and playfully challenge her, she could give it right back. So she leaned forward to meet him best she could from her half-way lying position in the bed. He blinked in surprised.

"I don't know... I've got a funny bone or two." A clear challenge, oh? On his own playing field no less? Brave little human. He leaned down and hovered near her face, "But you." She leaned back and he grunted before she shrugged with closed eyes, "I feel you're far too advantaged. It just wouldn't be fair, a monster that's a magical skeleton who loves and makes bad puns." She opened a tired eye at him, and grinned. "I don't know if I can compete with that because..." No- She was going for it! Her arms raised up in a shrug as she fell back into the pillow for effect "You're just filled with _funny bones,_ it's too _Sans_ ational."

It was horrible. It was a stretched joke, and he stared at her for a few moments, before he cracked a wide grin, and then laughter expelled from him as he fell back. It was quieter, and much more relaxed this time. It eventually faded into the quiet of the room and he looked back at her. Her eyes had shut and her chest now rose and fell steadily. She'd fallen back to sleep. He grabbed the bag he'd gotten from the Grillby's bar and restaurant earlier that was now filled with garbage, and crumpled it into a ball. In a swift motion, he chucked it, and watched as it arched into the garbage can in the corner. "...You're not wrong." He murmured to her sleeping form, now amused. He got up and headed for the door. _If I weren't, you'd probably already have gotten dunked on, Elanor._

* * *

 **Well, I hope you enjoy it. I will say writing Elanor's buildup to an anxiety attack or break down as not the easiest thing to do. But I did have to think on the portion of 'scary monsters' and the fact things have been rough with the woman having very little time to emotionally process... anything. BUT THAT SAID! Let me know what you thought, gimme your critiques or comments if you'd like and have the time, I would love to hear them, and I shall see you next chapter!**


	4. Level One

_I just wanted to say thank you to all of you who have favorited, followed, or reviewed this story thus far. I am surprise on how much support it is gained so quickly! And to show my gratitude, here is a longer chapter, as well as... How many of you watched Saturday morning cartoons growing up? Well here you are my lovelies, a Saturday morning update!_

 _The mystery starts to get thick here, but I'm wondering, how many of you have formed your hypothesis yet? I hope it remains enjoyable as you read through. Some notes: The beginning will start out heavy, and it does get lighter throughout, but it will have its ups and downs. Now let's get to why you're here, and read on my lovelies!_

 _do not own Undertale, for the game and its characters are under the copyright and ownership of Toby Fox, however I do own Elanor and all of her mistakes and actions._

* * *

 **Level One**

* * *

 _She ran; the sound of the bushes and twigs behind that gave way told her that the pursuer was close as her feet dug further into the ground. She tried to push off harder; she had to go faster. She couldn't let him catch her… Was it a he? She didn't know. Scared, a red beam shot out from the forest and she shoved herself out of the way. The ground ahead of her blew sky high. She tried to dodge around the debris. She had to get back, back to that place. The giant door was in view. The safe place. She looked over her shoulder and saw the flash of red, white, and black. Her foot caught on a vine, too late! Her body went sprawling onto the path. She moved to begin to crawl._

 _A boot slammed onto her back and she let out a yelp. Weight pressed her down into the ground and she could hear the low baritone of a thoughtful hum come from above her. A hand came down, and grabbed her hair, the boot moved off her and they drug her up. She snarled in pain as the fist full of curly brown hair remained tight. "Let Go!"_

* * *

 ** _"_** ** _Elanor, you're having a bad dream. Wake up." Frantic, stern, familiar… "If you don't, things could turn for the worst. You can't remember, Elanor. Please, wake up for me." Hands on her face, cold, shaking… wet, warm… tears?_**

* * *

 _"_ _Shut Up." A fist slammed hard, too hard into her stomach. She fell forward over it and gasped for air. It soon changed angles as she tried to get air into her lungs and in a quick movement, he kicked her feet from out from under her. She stared at the large door, gaping open, almost invitingly, as she laid over their shoulder. They walked in the opposite way._

* * *

 _ **"**_ _ **Elanor." Desperate, young, something tugged at her consciousness, "Elanor you have to wake up." Sound of something fluttering. "You can't save us this way." No, no one could be saved this way. How could she save them?**_

* * *

 _She tried to reach out for the entrance, but there was something warm that restrained her hands. She called out a name that fell on deaf ears, heat began to stream down her face before as shrieking sobs wracked her form. The pain in her stomach was too much and she began to cough before she tasted something metallic slip out of her mouth. A low growl exited them, "If you get blood on my coat-" The threat fell onto deaf ears as her ragged breathing and pounding head became too much._

 _She spotted something golden at the entrance, but it became blurred by tears and soon out of sight as her eyes shut._

* * *

 _ **A new voice, a stranger. "Hey Lady. Wake up." Deep, baritone, soothing. A hand on her shoulder gently grasping. "You're crying," Astounded, "Hey… I don't know what's wrong, but Elanor, you need to wake-**_ ** _"_**

"-up." Green eyes fluttered open, someone was shaking her. Elanor looked to the side in front of her and watched as the skeleton in the blue coat and white turtle neck came into focus. She felt groggy, her head felt numb, and her face oddly cold.

Sans stilled as the human's hand slowly came up, and rested on his as it was on her shoulder. Her thumb stroked the top of his hand as she looked away and stared at the ceiling. Her eyes glazed, she wasn't quite coming out of it yet. He didn't move from his spot as he laid beside her, head rested on his arm as he eyed her. He had come back a while ago after he made sure to track back to the locked entrance to the Ruins. The remains of the coffin were still there, so he'd taken samples and put them away to later examine them. It was at that point he felt ragged, and was met with the quandary of taking up the couch; which would have started an investigation when his brother would notice, likely asking him why on earth he didn't use his perfectly good bed in his room. Thus to avoid that, he'd skipped the whole process and laid in the bed next to her, on top of the covers, drifted to sleep, and figured he'd be quick enough to cover her mouth if it startled his human companion. He'd woken up however to the soft sniffling and hissing; and sure enough when he looked over, she'd been crying.

If she were hunched over and had her hands buried into her face, that would have been one thing, however to find her lying motionless, gasping and shaking like a leaf, tears coming out of shut tight eyes. It was almost like she hadn't wanted to wake up.

And thus here they were. His hand held captive and being pet, and her eyes unblinkingly on the ceiling. She still wasn't here quite yet. So he waited. If he spooked her at this point, who knew what would happen; he couldn't say he was used to the way the pad of her thumb brushed over his metacarpals again and again though. Or the fact she wasn't freaking out as she did earlier. He waited for it at this point honestly.

She blinked and her hand stilled. She lifted it up and stared at it. It was almost like watching data streaming across the network as he studied her face, thoughts flashed across her gaze, her eyes dilated and focused, eyebrows moved in confusion, lips pulled and shrunk, before she finally winced and both hands covered her eyes as she grimaced.

"…Ow." Elanor whimpered, her voice was barely above a whisper, "Headache…" He didn't move quite yet, he sat up so he hung above her. Humans didn't act like this normally… right? He could remember moments where the kid would, she'd break down during their fight, and surrender, cry, apologize again and again, but this- this was just odd. He became distracted from his thoughts by a groan, "Why is my face wet?"

"A rainstorm formed in the room, kid." He joked out of habit. He nearly recoiled from his own words. She wasn't the kid. She was the anomaly here... One of those green eyes flashed above her hand as she stared at him, unblinking.

Elanor's brain finally caught up. She remembered this skeleton and the jokes she told before she passed out, she remembered where she was. She remembered what happened; and why she was in this bed.

But why was he? She tried to sit up but the movement made her head hurt worse. She hissed in pain and cradled it. "Why are you in the bed too?"

"It's a perfectly good bed." He stated nonchalantly, "And you're too small to take up all of it, even if you're being a _lazy bones_ and sleeping in it the entire time." She gave him a sound of discontent and he chuckled again, then turned so his legs hung off the side of it. He didn't have any issues falling asleep next to her after he made sure she was going to stay that way for a while. But now he was positive she wouldn't have to. "Elanor." Kidding aside, he needed her attention now.

Her hands dropped and he watched her wince as she glared. Humans had that thing about personal space, he could respect that a little bit; but not right now. "We need to check your bandages, but you won't be needing them once we're done. Trust me" She looked at him in disbelief, and he grinned, "I have a _gut_ feeling about this."

A groan, "Gut instead of good, Sans?" His grin widened, "really?"

"Don't tell me you don't feel it in your _bones._ "

"You're making my headache worse, man."

"Skeleton."

A louder groan exited from her and he was filled with mirth...

…Elanor stared at the scar that laid on her skin now in absence of her puncture wound. Her headache dissipated quite a bit and the rest left over forgotten as her fingers came down, nervously touching it before a jolt of pain moved through her. Sans chuckled, his back faced her currently as he heard her sharp intake of breath. Silly humans and their medical modesty."It will still be a bit tender… at least that's how it works for Monsters…" He informed her.

Her hand rested slightly over it before she yanked back the covers and slowly stood up, one hand kept the pants in place, the other clung to the shirt she'd tied off at her chest. She lifted it a little higher as she peered down at the fresh scar. "How?"

Sans's back was still to her, he didn't particularly care about the modesty thing, but he couldn't say he wasn't curious; he could remember well enough what an adult human looked like… He cleared his throat lightly, Elanor had no idea how he was making that sound as he didn't have one, before he looked towards the ceiling, rocked on his heels, and grinned, "Magic." He let the silence hang for effect, he could practically hear the mocking doubt, then continued, "Whenever a human is exposed to it, even in a small amount, some interesting things happen. Like physical or bodily regeneration. The food here, unlike that in the surface, contains a good amount of it."

A soft realization of 'that food from earlier then,' came across his hearing and he gave a nod and a noise of confirmation, "Exactly." He chuckled, another sharp inhale from her. Now he looked over his shoulder, he noted her staring at him while she held his shirt high. They made eye contact, and he gave her a once over. He didn't know if human bones should appear like that in the rib cage, but he supposed it made sense... kind of. She glowered as he reached her face. Rather than stare however, he shrugged and looked away, "Looks like you're patched up fine." It wouldn't be the first time, he heard shuffling and chuckled, "We'll have to take the stitches out; can I turn around now? It's not like I'm going to _eye_ you." He without missing a beat, he pointed at his eye sockets as he leaned back and looked at her, one hand in his pocket, "I don't got e'm."

"Not funny!" Was the flustered snap back, he giggled.

He thought it was hysterical. He soon relaxed. She was shorter than him by a a little less than a foot he guessed. His clothes hung off her, but he had noted toned muscles when he was sewing her up to begin with. He rubbed the back of his skull, his voice lower and more thoughtful, "Suppose we'll have to get you new clothes." She was almost swimming in his, she definitely didn't have the girth needed for them to fit. She could've lost the pants and used his shirt as a very short dress, honestly. That wouldn't do if they were going to do this thing; or if she were to go outside.

That said, he still needed to decide on that. He would have to cut her loose eventually, but on what terms? His face remained an impassive smile as he thought about it, Elanor's eyes locked onto him as she clung to the shirt that wanted to fall off her shoulders and kept it low now over her stomach.

The skeleton monster had gone quiet and it made her slightly nervous. It felt like he was staring right through her, the lights in his eyes barely moved and were dimmed, his grin pulled back and stationary. He inhaled to speak; when the sound of a lock on the door clicked from behind him. She had very little time to note as the pinpoints of lights in his eyes flared back to life. She didn't see him move before she yelped as she was grabbed up, and immediately moved. She felt nauseous when she stopped moving, her back against the wall as she slid down to hold her head. She looked up to find Sans shutting doors in her face. Confused as she looked around, she reached up and her hand brushed against fabric.

She reached down, and her hand met a pair of slippers, familiar to the ones he had on his feet before.

Did he just shove her in a closet!? She opened her mouth to yell at him when a new voice cut through the air.

"Sans!" Higher pitched, male.

"Hi Papyrus." Sas didn't sound the least be perturbed, and he didn't sound like he was in front of the closet either. Her eyes narrowed as it clicked; how the hell could he move that fast? "What's up bro?" Bro?! He had a brother?

She opened her mouth and motioned as she snarled to herself silently, 'he's a god damned skeleton! How can he have a brother!?' She drug her hands through her hair, trying very hard to not move any other part of her as she grabbed her tresses and pulled with frustration. She'd done okay so far, but really? She could handle magic before she started trying to contemplate why the hell a skeleton could be genetically related to another outside of a normal reproductive system.

This was just too much!

Their conversation continued. The brother, Papyrus started out loud, his voice filled with… rage? No… sternness? Negative. He didn't sound disapproving, just loud and… factual.

Ah, there we go.

Factual.

"I went out today to see if you recalibrate your puzzles and for once-" his voice grew proud, "I Saw that You Did!" And then excited, "Oh Sans, you really did take my words to heart!" Elanor doubted it. Sans didn't seem the type; for the 48 hours she knew him anyways. "and is that a clean bed? Wow Sans, you are really shaping up!"

Snoring cut through the beginnings of the speech the brother was about to make. There was a pause, and then his voice turned cross, "SANS!" The snoring sounded disrupted followed by a 'huh- wha?' "Here I am Praising you and You Fall Asleep!?" Disbelief coated Papyrus's every word. Elanor slowly covered her mouth as she stifled giggles. "I can still see we have a lot of work to do before you're ever fit to get into the Royal Guard!" The disparity of this brother, jesus, she couldn't handle it.

"Well Papyrus, I can't help it, I've been studying up on this really interesting closet all night; got sleepy. You could say that I've been a real _closet_ case." Yup! Humor gone. She glowered at the pun, she heard footsteps near the closet. Oh no! No! No! No! She readied to pounce out if need be and make a run for it, "But don't worry, I still have a ton of work to do, a _skele-ton_."

"Sans!" Papyrus groaned loudly.

"One could say it's almost _clavicle tibia-onest_!" Sans delivered, a laugh in his voice, Papyrus's feet stomped away from the closet. She fought back a sigh of relief.

"Oh forget it!" Papyrus's voice was further now, and the second pair of steps were gone as the door slammed. Sans's chuckles died a few seconds after, and she heard the squeaks of the mattress as he got off the- wait? He made it all the way over to the bed?! She stared wide eyed in the darkness. Just how fast was the big guy? She was so lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice as footsteps stopped in front of the closet. The doors opened lowly and she peeked up at Sans from her sitting position on the floor.

"So…" She began, his face in a neutral expression, "Your brother sounds nice." She yelped as he reached down and grasped her hands to pull her out, he then shut the doors behind her.

"My brother is the coolest." He had a small smile on his face, the laughter still in his voice, and the fondness leaked into his voice. The pinpoints in his face traveled over to her from the corner of his eyes before he chuckled, "He would make you look like a baby bones in comparison though..."

"He's taller than you?" She couldn't believe it. He reached over and grabbed a picture frame off his desk, before he handed it over. She stared silently at it, eyes widening each moment.

What Sans had in bulk, Papyrus had in height. Sans stepped behind her and stared over her shoulder at it; he noted how her hands shook slightly as she observed it. Still some fear in there. He wasn't sure he could be able to wipe all of it out though. Either way, he smirked as the skeleton she stared at had a red cape, and boxing gloves with black shorts. He was easily two heads taller than Sans, maybe three. He also was lengthy in comparison. Sans reached over her shoulder to take the picture back, and she gave it up to him willingly, turning around in the process.

"This place is terrifying." She surmised. He paused as he put the frame back and considered her words, before he chuckled, "All of you are too big."

"Do you think you won't be able to handle it? After all, sounds to me like you're too small." He sounded casual, but he was getting ready. A child had taken this place single handedly time and time again, god forbid an adult have a go at it. He watched Elanor carefully now as she her downcast gaze. Her pink lip wedged between somewhat dimmer teeth than the bright white glow he saw on television, her hands clenched and unclenched at her sides.

"Magic and monsters, healing foods, talking flowers…" She began slowly, her eyes shut and she looked up at him, "…It's just a lot to take in." She admitted meekly. He relaxed a little, the power that had begun into his right eye socket flowed out and back into him. He raised his hands and shrugged with his eye sockets shut.

"You have time to process." It was such a foreign concept, this entire timeline though was foreign. None of it lined up, none of it made sense. Yet the events were completely logical and chronological. He'd yet to have any of these interactions. It was almost refreshing… But in the others, he was pretty certain he didn't have to watch over a human like this; in such a personal manner, either. Toriel held the position of guardian, not him. He looked back to see her rubbing the temples of her head, "Still have a headache?" Who knew even at an elder age humans were such high maintenance. He fought back the chuckle at the irony as he watched her scrunched face of discomfort; it was almost endearing that these potential killing machines could act so fragile.

She nodded. He rubbed at his mandible before he gave a snap, her eyes widened as he turned. "Stay here, I'll be right back… then be ready to go outside."

"But you said-"

"Trust me; you can do that, right?" He challenged with a smile, her cheeks puff and she glowered at him with furrowed brows, quite indignantly as he studied her over his shoulder. "Be back in a flash."

Elanor opened her mouth, but he was gone. He most certainly didn't hide his speed. She noted that the door hadn't even opened or shut. A new conclusion broke through the pounding in her temple. She felt her jaw hang before she snapped it shut. Could Sans freaking teleport? Forget speed! No wonder he was on the bed by the time his brother was in the room.

Speaking of which… she looked back towards the picture frame and at the lengthy skeleton beside the one she was starting to become familiar with. She tried to reach back, Sans had a brother, was it possible she had siblings? As she reached, she found nothing except more pulsing in her head. Something seemed important she wasn't remembering, but as she tried to dig in, the pain grew. She soon gave up all together on trying though; greatly unsatisfied with the black murky waters that were her memories. It was frustrating, but maybe now wasn't the time to try and press it. She didn't want to worsen the headache-

Clothes were dumped on her head and she grunted and stared up. She grabbed what was on her, a jacket she noted, then looked left, rig- SANS.

She jumped back, lost her footing, and fell on her backside with an 'oomph.' Clothes fell from her shoulders and head into her lap, black jog pants with white stripes up them, a dark red long-sleeved shirt, socks, and….

She looked up at him as she lifted up the panties and bra with each hand. She then back, she would refrain from comment. Sans sighed and turned his back to her as she wordlessly demanded him to with her pointed glower.

Once she was dressed, he nodded, "You're looking pretty good Elanor." She looked away from him, a flush across her face, the ridge of his eyebrow, if he had an eyebrow, rose.

 _How the hell does it even do that?_ Elanor couldn't look away but she scuffed a sock covered foot on the ground, tensed her shoulders, and then sighed. "So we're… going outside?" Sans made a noise of confirmation and she nodded, then licked her lips, "What if other monsters try to…" She pointed out the window, "Ice me?"

Sans snickered, he didn't know whether or not she meant to make that pun because they were going out into the snow, but it worked all the same. He shrugged.

"You'll just have to dodge their attacks." She looked at him like he'd grown a second head, but even as a monster, that would be a feat for him. He sighed, "…Would it help, if I helped you figure out how?"

Elanor's head bobbed in confirmation, and Sans mentally cursed. He would have to put some effort to get this timeline going. The kid at least had a bit of independence, but so far he wasn't sure Elanor had any of that… then again. Elanor hadn't had much of a chance to show him any except for one moment so far.

* * *

 _He stood over the human; blood was starting to stain the path outside of Snowdin as she clawed her way towards the spike left behind from the coffin. The flower was gone now, but her hand made contact with the stake. He quickly moved, nudging it out with his foot._

 _A terrified face stared up at him; hand reaching out only for it to clench into grass and dirt. Her head bowed as she shook with what he could only assume was fear and pain. The pinpoints of lights in his eye socket moved down to her side, that wasn't good. Her gasped breath heightened as she looked up at him. "If he comes back…" She reached out for the stake again, "How will I- if he comes back…" Her hand landed just short of it, and her head bowed. A few more breaths, and she stopped tensing._

 _He didn't need to hear her finish that sentence, or for her to be fully coherent though to know what she was asking him._

 _'_ _How will I defend myself if he comes back?'_

 _"…_ _Let's make sure it doesn't get to that, eh buddy?" He crouched down and began to dig around in his pockets; a deflated whoopie cushion fell out and he paused only briefly, before he sighed forlornly. "You sure know some way to greet a new pal, lady."_

* * *

He supposed for the moment, that was all he had to go on. Otherwise, she'd been stuck to him; and rather willing to listen to him at least. He didn't know if that was because she was actually willing, or because she somewhat was terrified. Sans supposed it wouldn't hurt to be both, but he couldn't have a human that would attack every monster that came at them… a child could have a weak hit, adults he doubted. He watched as she began to pull on her boots from earlier, curious as to the hiking boots to begin with before he shrugged.

At least he wouldn't have to worry about her falling.

Once she was done, before she stood up straight, he reached into his closet and threw something at her. The big jacket landed on her head. He had his hands in his pockets of his own as he watched her look over at it. This one just a bit smaller, and black, it didn't have much fur around the hood anymore, and if there was, it had been cut short, matted, or stained by some substance from when he was smaller.

"It's a wet cold out there, it'll go _bone_ deep if you let it in." He grinned widely at her as she stood up and slowly pulled the outer garment over herself. He reached over and grabbed the hood, before he yanked it up and over her head. Elanor's head ducked, eyebrows furrowed as her mouth buried into the zipper once she zipped it up.

A light blush appeared and she wouldn't look at him; once again, she was doing the endearing killing machine thing. He didn't let it stay long though as he grabbed the front of her jacket and pulled her forward by it. He watched her eyes flick up, and gave what to the untrained eye, would be a rather evil grin at her.

Elanor could have killed him when he threw her love this shoulder and teleported right the hell out of there. He came to a stop outside the town, and she'd tensed, hands clawed into his jacket, knees bent and dug into his collar bone. His hood pressed lightly against her face, the fur of it tickling her nose before she hissed as she inhaled, only to feel it agitate further. She gave a loud sneeze. Her arm slipped, the arm that Sans had used to keep her steady on his shoulder unfastened from her, and down she went.

She used both arms to keep her from going face first into the dirt, but that didn't stop the groan once she laid face down after the rest of her body followed.

"Gee you humans are clumsy."

Yup. Definitely could kill him. She rolled over, the hood fell back as she sat up hissing, and then slowly got to her feet, "I know I was wounded yesterday, and healed today, but things are still sore, so do you think next time- Next Time- You could just put me on the ground!?" She glared up at him, and then stilled.

Where were the lights in his eye sockets? His grin widened as he put his hands behind his back. " **Don't Worry About That.** " He stated menacingly, " **I Told You I Would Help You Learn How To Dodge, Remember**?"

Her heart began to hammer in her chest, she took a step back from him. Then another, and another; her hand up in front of her, she wasn't sure why, maybe to push him away if he charged- Didn't matter, he looked terrifying. His posture was the same though, how could he look terrifying, but his head only be slightly bowed, his hands in his pockets, and his smile only wider. The feeling he gave off cause her hair to rise on the back of her neck and her shiver as what felt like sweat rolled down her back, she looked around. There had to be something, something she could grab in case he came at her.

God damn it, she shouldn't have trusted him, she shouldn't have agreed to it- she should have fought tooth and nail to get away rather than let sleep keep taking her, he could've done something so much easier by drugging the food, but- but-

"Hey, hey. Calm down." It was a normal Sans voice, _don't fall for it, it's a fucking trap_. "Elanor." _No_. She wouldn't fall for it, she couldn't- the pulse, the surge, she stilled from her frantic attempt to find something she could brandish as a weapon; her heart, no- her soul. The grey little heart from before, hovered right in front of her chest. She looked up; and yelped as the grey heart was swiped at by a blue bone that was in Sans's hand not once, but multiple times before she could register it. She stepped back once she did and stilled as the grey immediately turned into a dark blue with a small 'ding.' "There we go." Sans lifted his hand after the bone disappeared, his left eye socket revealed an electric blue eye, and she yelped as her feet left the ground and she was jettisoned high.

She learned right then and there, she didn't like heights. She curled almost immediately as the skeleton monster kept her in the sky; he could hear the sharp gasps for breath, her eyes frantically looked about and Elanor honestly felt the want, almost the immediate need, to break down and cry. She didn't though, there was no time for that. She needed to find a way down.

Gulping her shaky fear as obviously, she wasn't falling right now, she focused in on Sans, his weird eye, and the way his hand remained stilled, but raised right in her direction. She noted faintly the little blue outline that was around her heart, glowing that electric blue that matched his eye. It made sense now.

She took another large gulp, clenched her hands into fists, leaned forward, and growled, "Sans!"

"Heh, Elanor."

"Put. Me. Down." Sans paused, looked like he was considering it, but then shook his head. Her irritation spiked into rage, "Why Not!?" She finally snapped.

Sans blank face gained a cheeky grin, "Didn't say the magic word, Ela." The rage subsided almost immediately at the possibility he would leave her up here.

He wouldn't. But she didn't know that.

He was glad he assumed correctly as he could hear the tints of panic in her voice, "Pleeaaase!" He didn't lower her to the ground. He let her get about five feet above it, and then let go of the control on the blue little heart, dropping her. She hit hard and groaned, rolling onto her side and coughing until she got the air back into her lungs. Once she finished, he chuckled and moved to stand over her.

He supposed it would be mildly intimidating, but that was a bit of the point. "Lesson one, Elanor." He crouched down with a light blue glowing phalange, and lightly poked the little blue heart. She flinched away from it as a white spot appeared, damage, "If you go against me in a fight some day, you're going to have a bad time."

He reached down and offered his hand to help her up, "Lesson two." Once she was raised he leaned back. He could so easily grab her soul right now and take it to King Asgore, but even he wouldn't attempt that far with the timeline. "You should always look to spare or show mercy." He frowned at her, "Being hurt or-"

She socked him in the face, hard. He grunted as he stumbled back, hand moving to his face and unsure. Was there damage? There had to be damage, wasn't there damage? It was too soon in this timeline for him to die! He paused as he found almost none, and looked up to see her cradling her knuckles which were now bleeding. Her face flushed and tears at the corners of her eye.

"DON'T EVER DO THAT TO ME AGAIN." She snarled, he paused, "I DON'T CARE IF YOU CAN LIFT ME UP OR DOWN OR THROW ME INTO SHIT- NEVER AGAIN." Sans blinked a few times, rather confused.

"…Do what? If you mean the blue soul, or the lifting, then I'm afraid to tell-"

He got a snowball to the face now. Elanor's face tear-stained and angry.

He tricked her, he lied to her. He could pull his practical jokes, he could keep her still with his barehands, hell he could lift her into the air or down, but she would not be tricked, she couldn't afford that! Not if she was going to trust him, and this place was terrifying enough. She threw more snow at him until she couldn't and then fell to her knees, panting hard.

" **Do You Want To Explain That Outburst, Elanor?** " She looked to her right and found his face inches from her. All light gone. Her body froze, and then she remembered why she was mad at him.

Sans grunted as the smaller human shoved him over and he got ready to make the move. A gasterblaster appeared above him and began to rev up the laser, when her voice stopped him cold.

"L-Lie to me." Elanor didn't look up, her head bowed. He shut his eye sockets and when he opened them, the pinpoints of light had returned, he gave a frown, "I don't remember anything Sans." She hissed, sniffling, "I don't remember home, family, I don't remember if I even had either, I only know that coffin and what you've shown me."

She inhaled deeply, her hands clenched into his jacket and she yanked him so she was centimeters from his face, "I can't trust you if you trick me Sans and I can't trust _anyone_ if I can't trust the one damn monster down here I know." She let go of him and practically shoved herself off him, getting to her feet. She paused at the gasterblaster that followed her movements up, then stepped back. The skull disappeared, a familiar electric blue flash she recognized from its presence back when Flowey first attacked her.

Sans laid on the ground for a few more moments as he processed what she told him. Amnesia, he was deciding, was a pain to deal with. A new protagonist in this twisted story of theirs, was also a pain. He would much rather be sleeping and letting a timeline run its course with no foul to his knowledge, or dogging the kids footsteps footsteps. But no, alas. He was here now, and he was in Toriel's position….

Responsible. He could have groaned at the word as he finally sat up, got to his feet, and began to brush himself off.

"Words." He stated calmly. "Lesson two." He looked at her with a tired stare, the smile gone from his face. "Lesson two is to use your words. As I told you before. You should always use Mercy or try Spare someone." She had almost exhausted him, something he hadn't expected. He didn't know if it was a good or bad thing, but perhaps it was necessary. Different timeline. Different rules. He wouldn't hold much back information wise, after all. He knew there would be trouble later, but she needed to hear more information, now, "If your LV or your EP go up, you'd get stronger and stronger, but you will become a monster of an entirely different kind. A bastard creature that knows No Mercy..."

He stopped in front of her, head bowed and hands in his pockets as he sized her up, "Should that moment occur, Elanor." He leaned back and sighed, "No one will have to force me, I'll just kill you." Perhaps if he told the kid this early on each time, maybe things would be different. However it wasn't like the kid had ever forgotten a timeline. If they were stuck with Elanor, then this would be the first to set up all the rest... Regardless though, he looked back at her and saw her wipe away the tears quietly and her face having changed to a flat expression, her eyebrows furrowed slightly in thought.

Maybe honesty would be the best method here? How long had it been since he'd bothered to tell someone how he really felt? He couldn't remember really.

Elanor was digesting what he said. She grasped her wounded hand slightly and rubbed her fingers over the abraded skin, blood lightly tinting it. She swallowed the knot in her throat and nodded, "If I were to become that thing, I'd want you too."

Sans had seen it more times than he could count that when a human had their head was on the chopping block, that was rarely the tune they sang. However, she wasn't done.

"But- I don't want to be put in a position where that could happen." He blinked as she stood up a little more, "So if you're going to teach me to dodge, or do what I have to, to make it here, or get out of here, or whatever we're doing this for… then let's get on with it. But I don't want…" She winced, "…I have to trust that one way or another, you got my back in this- and I'll have yours." She sighed, "Which means don't trick me like…" She winced, "That. I thought you were going to kill me like that flower."

"Nah kid." He watched her blink and stare at him, that's right, he hadn't called her that before, "I'd be honest about it." She gave a tired sigh and nodded, "But- take this first." He handed her a cinnabun looking pastry, "eat up before we start."

As she took the time to eat it, he contemplated over her words. Adult or not, he supposed he had a somewhat fragile, malleable mind right now… but that anger. It had been so potent, he hadn't expected it. For a moment, it hadn't felt right; not when she was in the sky, that was just fine, but once on the ground… maybe because she took it rather badly his method? He turned it over in his head before he felt her touch his arm lightly.

"I'm ready when you are, biggen." He grunted and looked gave her a wincing glare.

"I'll have you know, I'm big boned."

"I'll have _you know_ that you're a big one, and thus, bigger'en me." Elanor was absolutely pleased with his wide socketed expression, and how those pin points moved back and forth in confusion, before she chuckled, "Thus," she gestured with both hands to him dramatically, "you're Biggen ta me."

"Rule three: Leave the pun making to the pros, Ela."

…Learning to dodge had been something Elanor seemed to have a knack for. Perhaps in her past life she was really good at sports? She wasn't sure, but as she sat on the counter of a small structure, out of breath, she could only guess. Her soul was finally allowed to flick back to gray, and pressed to her chest; soon gone and back inside her.

At first, the hits hurt a lot, but she would eat something and the soul recovered quickly. It was almost like it numbed out the physical pain, and also seemed to do a lot better with recovery from food than physical damage. She had quite a few bruises to prove that. Sans also was a better coach than he let on. She figured with his statements from earlier, he was going to just teach her the basics.

It was a good idea. He didn't need to teach her to fight… nothing in her mind neither confirmed nor denied it either. So she figured as much. If she was going to try and get through this thing, though she wasn't sure what this thing was, she might as well do it his way. He seemed to be setting her up for something.

She took a bite of the tasty pastry and chewed it, watching thoughtfully as he texted on his phone. Soon he inhaled and chuckled, "So. I have a question."

"Yeah?" She kept eating from her perch on the counter of his sentry station. At some point, he explained to her what a sentry was supposed to actually do: Capture humans and protect New Home. The place they were in, as opposed to Old Home, which was on the surface. But Sans was lazy and frankly didn't give a damn about his job… much. She suspected they wouldn't have had their earlier little heart to heart otherwise.

Disregarding that, she was more focused on the irritating fact she knew more monster history than her own; but she also couldn't figure out why she couldn't remember anything yet. Which equally frustrated her; to the misfortune of the skeleton monster she'd now tackled at least once. To his chagrin, it meant she was more likely to stay with him, given he was someone in this place she was at least remotely familiar with.

"How do you feel about puzzles?" She stopped mid-chew and looked behind her at him as she faced out towards the road.

"Why?" Sans leaned forward, his head propped on his hand as he ate a hot dog. Hers had been devoured in seconds, he told he she couldn't have seconds since she kept eating sweets. He finished chewing, then swallowed. She watched, puzzled as it didn't fall out of him. She mentally shrugged and went back to eating her cinnabun. Sans she had already determined, was weird. So she might as well just except his monster body was weird too.

"My brother Papyrus is obsessed capturing humans." She nearly choked, but after a hard swallow, looked at him in disbelief, "Thinks it'll get him right into the Royal Guard. But it's not working out, so he's been feeling a bit down lately, I think seeing you could really cheer him up."

"Sans…"

The skeleton's wide smile was there with a half lidded gaze, "Not to mention, he's got puzzles he hasn't gotten to try out on anyone in a while. And it might be beneficial for you to have a Royal Guard candidate for a friend down the road. If you can make friends with him." Why was there any doubt that she could?

"Sans, who did you-"

"And seeing a human like you, I thought, it just might make his day. Don't worry though, he honestly couldn't hurt a fly." She nibbled at the pastry and eyed him. Sans was already a handful to deal with...

"You were texting him to come out here, weren't you."

It was never a question. He grinned that knowing grin, "Elanor, you never told me you were a fish." She glowered, "Because you got caught on my line of thought, fast."

She sighed; but he felt a little pride as it got a small smile out of her.

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Comments? Critiques? Let me know! I'll see you at the next level!**


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